Vatican official to grace Loyola School of Theology’s silver jubilee celebrations

January 24, 2025 - 2:56 PM
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Archbishop Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, Secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education. (Screenshot/Diocese of Lodi via CBCP News)

The Loyola School of Theology (LST) will celebrate its silver jubilee as an ecclesiastical faculty with a visit by a top Vatican education official.

LST president Jesuit Fr. Enrico Eusebio said the visit of Archbishop Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education (DCE), underscores the school’s role in theological education and its alignment with the Church’s mission in formation and academic excellence.

The DCE oversees Catholic schools, universities, and ecclesiastical faculties worldwide and plays a crucial role in promoting Catholic education and ecclesiastical studies within the Universal Church.

Archbishop Pagazzi’s visit will include several significant activities:

On Jan. 26, he will visit the Minor Basilica and National Shrine of Jesus Nazareno in Quiapo, Manila. The following day, Jan. 27, he will preside over Mass on the final day of the Philippine bishops’ plenary assembly in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, before visiting the Institute of Consecrated Life for Asia (ICLA).

On Jan. 28, Archbishop Pagazzi will be the main celebrant at Mass at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, marking the Solemnity of St. Thomas Aquinas, the university’s patron. Later, a liturgical reception will be held at LST in Quezon City, followed by a special concert, Purihin ang Panginoon, featuring music by LST professor Fr. Fruto Ll. Ramirez, SJ.

On Jan. 29, he will meet with administrators of ecclesiastical faculties, affiliated institutions, and theology schools in the Philippines and Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific countries. A special academic convocation will follow, where he will deliver an address on “Theology and Ministry in Asia: Some Insights from the Synod on Synodality.” The day will conclude with a Mass, presided over by the archbishop, bringing together faculty, students, alumni, and distinguished guests.

A cultural showcase will also be featured at the Alumni Homecoming Dinner-Program, with performances by LST’s international students and the Marikina Dance Guild, highlighting the school’s global community.

On Jan. 30, Archbishop Pagazzi will bless the KAAGAPAY Monument and open Ad Spem Per Artem at the Loyola Retreat House Spirituality and Art Center in Angono, Rizal, in celebration of the Holy Year 2025. KAAGAPAY is Kublai Millan’s 3D colossal representation of the Angono-Binangonan petroglyphs. Later in the day, he will celebrate Mass at the Antipolo Cathedral.

LST was founded on July 12, 1965, by Fr. Horacio de la Costa, the Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines. It began as an institute of philosophy and theology and incorporated the ecclesiastical studies of San Jose Seminary, founded in 1601.

On Aug. 19, 1999, the Vatican issued the decree establishing LST as an Ecclesiastical Faculty of Theology, granting it the authority to confer Baccalaureate, Licentiate, and Doctorate degrees in theology.

Today, LST is one of the most internationally diverse Jesuit theological institutions, with students from 46 countries. It has the most diverse international student body in Asia, with 527 seminarians, priests, laypeople, and religious students enrolled in the second semester of the 2024-2025 academic year.